Setting details

Ten years ago, the airship Earthdawn appeared in the skies over Travar, coaxing the merchant city to cautiously send ambassadors out to confirm that the Scourge was over.

Unlike many other kaers, which were dug into mountainsides and relied on True Earth to protect them from the Horrors, Travar was surrounded by plains. Its protections were the Storm Shield and the Glimmer Dome, woven from True Air and True Fire and visible from hundreds of miles away. Consequently, Travar became a literal beacon of civilization as people emerged, the survivors of many townships converging upon the city in search of other survivors.

Still cautious, Travar kept the Storm Shield up for another five years, denying entry to all comers. Outside the city walls, a 'temporary' settlement grew - Tent City, comprised of tents and lean-tos crowded close enough to benefit from the protection of the astral shields.

These days, the magical wards that protected Travar for so long are down, but access into the city is still strongly regulated. Entry to the city costs a toll, and visitors must be gone by sundown. For those willing to pay, however, the Eternal Market boasts wonders from all over Barsaive, and vies for supremacy with the Grand Bazaar of Throal itself. Outside, in Tent City, the stalls are somewhat harder to navigate, but the market never closes. Anyone willing to pay the price can purchase almost anything from enterprising Traval-based traders who have unlimited access to the Eternal Market and intricate knowledge of its traders and stocks. They come out in the morning to collect shopping lists, and return in the evening with purchases not available in the lower-status, more temporary stalls of Tent City.

Our game is based out of Tent City. Travar itself, despite its geographical closeness, is a mysterious elsewhere that may be explored in adventures. The population of Tent City is drawn from dozens of sources, and so your character may come from Throal or a small, virtually-unknown kaer just as easily as from Travar itself.

The post-Scourge world is still very new, and much about it is unknown. This is a game of discovery and exploration, of civilization once again setting itself against the untamed wilderness. Even the most experienced traveler has only lived outside a kaer for a decade, which means that the bulk of everyone's lives have been spent locked down and hiding from the Horrors. It's not uncommon to come across people who feel vertigo when looking up at the open sky, and it's as easy to find people who find the world awful as it is awesome, terrifying as much as terrific.

Your character, whoever they might be, is driven to explore the world beyond that which you have known. You are an adept, one of the lucky 1% of the population called to a magical Discipline, and you will be a hero. This is your legend.